Celebrating diversity and actively creating an inclusive, collaborative culture is core to Diageo’s purpose of celebrating life everyday everywhere.

For our business to thrive, we depend on having the right people with the skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which we operate. To fulfil our ambition to be the world's most trusted and respected consumer products company, we know that we must earn the trust and respect of everyone that comes into contact with us.

We are proud that Diageo is the FTSE 100 Company with the highest number of women at the most senior levels. 45% of our Board Directors and 40% of our Executive team are women. A more balanced leadership team means broader conversations and better decision making – we want our senior leadership teams to be 35% female by 2020, with an increased to 40% by 2025. In addition, we are committed to strengthening our leadership pipeline by having 50% gender diversity by 2025 at the senior management level.

We are proud of our commitment to develop the skills of all of our employees and our work to eliminate unconscious bias in Diageo. Each General Manager of our 21 markets has a clear plan in place to help them build a culture of equal opportunity in their business; giving their employees the freedom to do the best work of their careers and attract the world’s most skilled individuals. Our graduate programmes and our mid career development programmes ensure they have an equal intake of women and men to attract, retain and grow the best talent.

We are proud that we bring education, life skills training, social enterprise programmes and responsible drinking programmes to our communities. These programmes empower women across the world, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and increase their job prospects. Diageo’s Plan W initiative aims to reach women of all socio-economic backgrounds and has empowered over 164,000 women to date; while our Learning for Life programme trains adults in key areas related to our industry with 100,000 women and men completing the programme since 2007. Initiatives like these actively strengthen families and benefit communities in real terms.

But it is not only skills focused programs that make a difference. Our Water of Life programmes aim to manage the impact of our operations in water stressed areas, including bringing access to clean water to communities across Africa. As a direct result of our Water of Life programme in Ghana, school attendance for girls increased by 92%, with a 33% reduction in time women spent collecting water - freeing them to pursue opportunities in work or education.

By working to meet our stretching targets throughout our value chain - from farmer to partner to customer to consumer - we know that we can build a truly diverse and inclusive business. This means we will attract the best talent, capitalise on the best opportunities for growth and help to actively build the society in which we will operate, shaping the occasions in which our brands are enjoyed.